Hot boiled gravy-beef, 3'ou may say, is a tasteless and insipid viand, fit only for prisoners and paupers; but please to be.ir this in mind — that in France there is served Avith the ho iL ill I a rich brown sauce, which makes the mfeat very palatable ; and, moreover, the beef itself has been so' gently and carefully simmered during so many hours that it has become thoroughly tender, without being " papp)' "■ or stringy, and is altogether suitable for the digestion of a dyspeptic person. As regards made-dishes, the most favourite ones in upper middle-class cookery in France are mutton cutlets, either CHATS ABOUT COOKERY. 7 plainly broiled, or egged -and -bread -crumbed. They are cut very small ; and not everybody is aware that the little paper frill round the shank is placed there to facilitate the action of the guest when he likes to eat his cutlet without the aid of a knife and fork. You have heard, no doubt, of the twenty-four cutlets Avhich Louis XVIIl. used to devour every day for luncheon. They probably did not represent, in dimensions, much more than twenty-four niouth- fuls. Veal cutlets are broiled and served with a puree of jDotatoes ; that is to say, mashed, lubricated with butter, and moistened with milk to the consistency of thick cream ; or "with an analogous piu'ee of spinach, or sorrel, or chicory — all cheap and wholesome vegetables. Button- mushrooms are also extensively used, or champignons. As for calf's head, our neighbours treat it very successfully, both hot and cold. Cold, it is dressed with oil and vinegar, a salad of chopped parsley, yolks and whites of eggs, and olives, being arranged separately in four little pyramids at the corners of the dish. The French also patronise fried and broiled calves' ears, calves' brains with sharp sauce, calves' tongues, liver, sweetbreads, hot, cold, and in aspic jelly. Another most acceptable French made-dish is boiled fowl and rice, which is simply the Western form of the Folio con arroz of the Spaniards, and the iiihif of the Mohammedan nations. Fowl and rice is a dish that was probably brought to Western Europe by the Crusaders ; for some reason or another, it does not often make its apjjearance at English middle-class tables. The American Cuisiue. The American cuisine, broadly speaking, may be divided into three classes. First, domestic cookery, as it is practised in the Northern and Southern States; next, ordinary hotel 8 THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK cookery, which may be mipartially detined as a desert of very indifferent cooking, Avith a few oases here and there ; and finally, the sinnptnoiis cuisine which you find at Del- nionico's, the Brunswick, and two or three other restaurants in New York ; at the Continental Hotel, Philadelphia ; at the Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago ; and at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco. The chefs at these renowned establishments receive salaries of rive thousand dollars a year or more ; and they serve epicures with luncheons and dinners equal to any repasts that can be obtained at the greatest of French restaurants, or at the London "West End clubs.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Hot boiled gravy-beef, 3'ou may say, is a tasteless and insipid viand, fit only for prisoners and paupers; but please to bear this in mind — that in France there is served Avith the bouilli a rich brown sauce, which makes the mfeat very palatable ; and, moreover, the beef itself has been so' gently and carefully simmered during so many hours that it has become thoroughly tender, without being " pappy" or stringy, and is altogether suitable for the digestion of a dyspeptic person. As regards made-dishes, the most favourite ones in upper middle-class cookery in France are mutton cutlets, either plainly broiled, or egged-and-bread-crumbed. They are cut very small ; and not everybody is aware that the little paper frill round the shank is placed there to facilitate the action of the guest when he likes to eat his cutlet without the aid of a knife and fork. You have heard, no doubt, of the twenty-four cutlets Avhich Louis XVIIl. used to devour every day for luncheon. They probably did not represent, in dimensions, much more than twenty-four niouthfuls. Veal cutlets are broiled and served with a puree of potatoes ; that is to say, mashed, lubricated with butter, and moistened with milk to the consistency of thick cream ; or "with an analogous puree of spinach, or sorrel, or chicory — all cheap and wholesome vegetables. Button- mushrooms are also extensively used, or champignons. As for calf's head, our neighbours treat it very successfully, both hot and cold. Cold, it is dressed with oil and vinegar, a salad of chopped parsley, yolks and whites of eggs, and olives, being arranged separately in four little pyramids at the corners of the dish. The French also patronise fried and broiled calves' ears, calves' brains with sharp sauce, calves' tongues, liver, sweetbreads, hot, cold, and in aspic jelly. Another most acceptable French made-dish is boiled fowl and rice, which is simply the Western form of the Folio con arroz of the Spaniards, and the pilaf of the Mohammedan nations. Fowl and rice is a dish that was probably brought to Western Europe by the Crusaders ; for some reason or another, it does not often make its appearance at English middle-class tables. The American Cuisiue. The American cuisine, broadly speaking, may be divided into three classes. First, domestic cookery, as it is practised in the Northern and Southern States; next, ordinary hotel cookery, which may be mipartially detined as a desert of very indifferent cooking, Avith a few oases here and there ; and finally, the sinnptnoiis cuisine which you find at Delnionico's, the Brunswick, and two or three other restaurants in New York ; at the Continental Hotel, Philadelphia ; at the Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago ; and at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco. The chefs at these renowned establishments receive salaries of rive thousand dollars a year or more ; and they serve epicures with luncheons and dinners equal to any repasts that can be obtained at the greatest of French restaurants, or at the London "West End clubs.

The thorough good cook